Starbucks is halving its food prices in the last hour of trading

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Starbucks hopes to reduce waste with the new scheme (Source: Starbucks)

Alys Key

Starbucks is planning to reduce food prices in many of its stores near the end of the day, in a bid to curb wastage.

The American coffee chain has said it will reduce the price of some foods by 50 per cent in its company-operated UK stores, which includes more than 350 locations.

The plan is to cut the prices of food which would otherwise be thrown away during the last hour of trading, in order to shift more leftover stock. The money made from the sale will then be donated to Action Against Hunger, an organisation fighting global hunger.

Starbucks has already completed a trial run of the scheme in 16 Manchester stores, which raised £1,500 for the chosen charity.

“Tackling a challenge like food waste is not an easy one, but we’re proud to have developed a programme which will deliver for the long term," said Simon Redfern, head of communications at Starbucks Europe. He went on to say that, in addition to the company-owned stores, franchised branches would also be approached in a bid to extend the scheme even further.